One of the major problems encountered in automotive assembly as well as other sheet metal assemblies which are subjected to weather and climate conditions is that of corrosion. It has been found that in automotive assembly, corrosion around a stud welding zone quite often occurs due to the ring of black or grey contaminate often called "smut" which is deposited on the surface of the metal around the stud welding zone during the welding operation. This contaminate prevents proper treatment of the metal prior to painting, and as a result when paint is applied over the improperly treated metal, bonding of the paint to the metal does not occur. When this happens, the paint will eventually crack and peel from the surface and rust and corrosion will appear in the area resulting in loss of integrity of the part.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for arc welding a metallic article, such as a stud or the like, to a work surface which facilitates removal of contaminates from the work surface adjacent the welded article.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of arc welding a metallic article, such as a stud or the like, to a work surface which substantially removes contaminates from the work surface area adjacent the welded article.